Huge new development slated for OTR; Greater Cincinnati's unemployment at lowest level in a decade; Cleveland police officers sue department for racial bias against whites

Welcome back to the post-holiday real world, where we all must once again perform tasks even more arduous than eating three pounds of turkey and falling asleep in a chair while grownups talk about football. But hey, it’s Cyber Monday, so you can still spend brain-melting amounts of time staring at a screen shopping for the perfect deal on those special-edition Ruth Bader Ginsburg signature Nike Dunks you’ve been wanting until you fall asleep in your chair while grownups talk about work. Or maybe that’s just me. Anyway, on to news.

If you weren’t following CityBeat over the holiday, you probably didn’t hear about this. A group of protesters arrested at a solidarity march for Ferguson, Mo. last week were jailed over Thanksgiving, despite having paid bail. Seven of the eight protesters arrested during the march’s shutdown of I-75 paid their $3,000 bond, but were kept in jail because they were deemed flight risks by Hamilton County Judge Melissa Powers. That meant that despite being charged with only misdemeanors, they had to wear electronic monitoring devices provided by an office that closed Wednesday around noon and wasn’t slated to reopen until today. The protesters were released Friday after Hamilton County Judge Ted Berry overturned the monitoring requirement, however.

• Over-the-Rhine continues to change at a rapid pace. Another huge development project is in the works for the neighborhood, this one around the historic Grammer’s bar and restaurant. Rookwood Pottery Co. owner Martin Wade is looking to spend $75 million on a project that will redevelop 100 apartments, create 40,000 square feet of office and retail space and build four single-family homes. No word yet on whether any of that living space will be affordable housing aimed at low-income residents, but the plans tend to sound more toward the upscale, with details like Rookwood pottery accents in the works. The final phase of the project will be a 68-unit apartment building aimed at families looking to move into the neighborhood in a space behind the OTR Kroger store that is currently a garden.

• Here’s some good news: Greater Cincinnati’s unemployment rate is down to 4.3 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. That’s the lowest it’s been in a decade. Last October, the rate was almost 7 percent.

• No, the Zoo hasn’t hired your one weird clickbait-sharing uncle as its new social media manager. Hackers have taken over the Cincinnati Zoo’s Facebook page and are posting all sorts of non-wildlife related content. The posts began about midnight Sunday and are the kind of thing that one annoying Facebook friend you have always posts: top five embarrassing photos lists, top 10 embarrassing holiday foods you shouldn’t eat lists, top 30 places to visit before your 40th birthday lists; that kind of thing. The Zoo has reached out to the social media company, which so far hasn’t taken any action to stop the posts. Officials with the Zoo are asking users to report the page as hacked.

• In what has to be one of the best examples of terrible journalism seen
in Ohio in years, Cleveland.com, the Cleveland Plain Dealers’ website,
published an article outlining the legal history of the father of the
unarmed12-year-old boy shot by Cleveland police last month. “Tamir
Rice’s Father Has History of Domestic Violence,” the headline screams,
apropos of absolutely nothing at all. The paper published the story Nov.
26, the same day a video showing Rice’s shooting was released. In the
video, an officer jumps out of a patrol car and shoots Rice, a bored-looking kid playing with a toy pistol, within
seconds of arriving at the scene. The shooting has caused a good deal of
anger in Cleveland, prompting demonstrations and calls for the involved
officers’ resignations. An investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

Meanwhile, in what is clearly some alternate reality…

• Members of the Cleveland Police Department are suing the department,
saying it racially discriminates against white officers involved in
shootings of blacks. Eight white officers and one Hispanic officer are
suing over their treatment in wake of a 2012 high-speed chase that
resulted in two suspects without guns being shot in their car more than
20 times. The City of Cleveland settled with the families of the two for
$3 million. Thirteen officers fired 137 shots during the chase. The nine
officers involved in the lawsuit complain that they were unfairly
assigned desk duty, meaning they could only perform what the suit calls
“boring, menial tasks.” The group says they should not be held
accountable for the incident, since the Ohio Attorney General found that
it was part of big systemic problems in the department. Huh. That’s
interesting logic.

• Finally, I dunno how many of you remember Richard Scarry's Busy Town kids books. If you do, this is hilarious in a "it's really kind of dark because it's true" sort of way. If you don't remember the books, well, I think it's probably still hilarious.

Cincinnati rockers make their network TV debut as part of CBS morning show’s Saturday Sessions

Veteran Cincinnati band Wussy saw a huge boost of its national profile (and sales) over the weekend when the band was featured on CBS This Morning on Nov. 29. The band’s network TV debut included an entertaining and funny interview segment, spliced with live footage (including shots filmed at this year’s MidPoint Music Festival, where the band opened for The Afghan Whigs in Washington Park). The featurette also showed band members Chuck Cleaver, Mark Messerly and Lisa Walker at their day jobs in Cincinnati and Shake It Records (the Northside record shop whose label branch releases Wussy’s albums) also makes an appearance.

The band’s appearance also included a performance of “Teenage Wasteland” from Wussy’s latest album, Attica! A bonus performance of another song from the album, “Beautiful,” was also filmed. Watch everything below.

The appearance had an immediate impact on Wussy’s sales. CBS’s Anthony Mason (who conducted the interview) tweeted that Attica! entered the iTunes album chart at No. 89 after the airing. Amazon sold out of its stock of Attica! CDs.

Earlier this week I took my mom to see Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical at the Cincinnati Playhouse (CityBeat review here). It was just as good the second time around. Mom, who loved Clooney as a performer in her heyday, had this to say: "It was like seeing her perform live!" I agree: Susan Haefner offers a wonderful interpretation of a Cincinnati icon; and it's great fun to watch Michael Marotta (the only other actor onstage) play her psychiatrist and a dozen or so other characters from Rosie's life. It's a great story of a woman who overcame some daunting demons and made a second career when she had been largely forgotten. Through Jan. 4. Tickets ($30-$85): 513-421-3888.

Even though everyone's Christmas decorations have been up for a while, the holiday season doesn't really begin for me until the Cincinnati Playhouse opens its production of A Christmas Carol. Well, there's no more waiting for that one: For the 24th consecutive year, the Mt. Adams theater kicks things off tonight with a glittering production of Charles Dickens' story of the re-education of Ebenezer Scrooge by several ghosts and the loving family of Bob Cratchit. This show is worth seeing simply for Bruce Cromer's winning performance in the pivotal role, but there's so much more — it's a scenically beautiful production, and the ensemble totally enters into the spirit of the season and brings the audience right along, too. Through Dec. 28. Tickets ($30-$85): 513-421-3888.

Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors is not exactly a holiday show, but it's a lot of fun (CityBeat review here), what with two sets of twins intersecting without realizing the confusion they're causing. Of course, it all sorts out eventually with a happy ending and multiple weddings. Set in a carnival town and costumed as if it were America in the 1930s, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's production induces laughter from start to finish. It would be a happy weekend outing for anyone, young or old. Through Dec. 13. Tickets ($22-$36): 513-381-2273.

Know Theatre's production of The Bureau of Missing Persons is an evocative and entertaining piece of alternative theater (CityBeat review here). The story of a woman's quest from her New York City apartment to a cave in Moscow in search of someone missing is described in the show's publicity as "a poignant tale of loss and redemption — part mystery, part love story." It's also the directorial debut for Tamara Winters, who recently became Know's associate artistic director. There's a preview tonight and the official opening is Saturday evening; it will be onstage through Dec. 20. Tickets ($20 in advance; $10 at the door 10 minutes prior to curtain, if available … cash only): 513-300-5669.Rick Pender's STAGE DOOR blog appears here every Friday. Find more theater reviews and feature stories here.

Some of the 15 protesters arrested during Tuesday's Ferguson solidarity rally were held after posting bail

UPDATED Nov. 28, 12:45 PM: Judge Ted Berry waived
the tracking device requirement for the protesters today, and those who posted bail (all but one) should be released in the next few hours.

Original Post: Some of the 15 protesters arrested during Tuesday’s march through downtown Cincinnati in solidarity with Ferguson, Mo. paid bail the next day. But while most folks were at home enjoying Thanksgiving Thursday, they were still in the Hamilton County Justice Center because some county offices are closed.

The march drew as many as 300 people during its nearly three-hour duration. During that time, at least 100 protesters streamed onto I-75, bringing traffic to a halt for a few minutes. Police, who had blocked traffic in the northbound lane of the highway, ordered protesters off under threat of arrest.

Those who didn’t leave fast enough ended up in jail.

The protesters were held without bond overnight and arraigned at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. Bond for the eight charged with shutting down I-75 was set at $3,000. According to Hamilton County Criminal Court documents, two of those arrested, Liz Cambron and Aalap Bommaraju, paid bail early that afternoon. But they’ll be in jail over Thanksgiving, and maybe until Monday, their attorney Joe Russell says.

Judge Melissa Powers, the presiding judge, deemed the arrested protesters flight risks and ordered they be fitted with electronic monitoring devices. But the office that provides the devices closed at noon today and won’t reopen until next week.

“I don’t undersand how my clients are flight risks,” Russell said of Cambron and Bommaraju. “They aren’t the kind of people who want to get anyone run over.” Cambron is a graduate student at University of Illinois Chicago, and Bommaraju is a health worker pursuing his PhD at UC.

He says the two weren’t acting recklessly and were merely exercising their first amendment rights.

The rest of the group arrested on I-75 look to be in a similar situation. Brandon Geary, Robert Fairbanks, Hilliard Herring, Zachary Lucas, Cerissa Newbill and Rhonda Shaw were also arrested on the highway and have been ordered to wear the tracking devices after release on bond.

Representatives with the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts said they
could not provide any information on the cases during phone calls
earlier today.

Russell says it’s not necessarily the judge’s fault the situation has happened. Others, however, feel like the delay was meant to send a message to future protesters.

“The reason they’re still in jail is because the county doesn’t have the electronic monitoring devices available,” Russel said. He was in court Friday morning working to get the two released.

A vigil held Nov. 27 for protesters arrested during a Ferguson solidarity march still in jail after posting bond

Nick Swartsell

A vigil asking the court to release the protesters on bond drew a crowd of about 35 people Thanksgiving day, including family members of some of the protesters. "He didn't even know he wasn't going home," said Evan Geary, brother of Brandon Geary, who also posted bond. "My parents had to tell him he wasn't going home. I'm surprised my parents didn't come. They were very happy this was happening," he said of the vigil.

Nick Swartsell

Both Bommaraju and Cambron, along with others who were arrested after entering I-75, are charged with disorderly conduct, a minor misdemeanor, and inducing panic. That charge is usually a first-degree misdemeanor, but could be a fifth or fourth degree felony if a prosecutor finds that significant “economic damage” was done in the commission of the offense.

One of the best things about
Cincinnati’s current urban renaissance is that older spaces — some unused or
even previously unknown — are being reinvented for new purposes. Churches and
firehouses become brewpubs and restaurants, office buildings become apartments,
underground tunnels become tourist attractions.

Since artists are sensitive
to their surroundings, a group called Near*By has lately begun to use such
spaces — sometimes — for special-event exhibitions. Happenings, sort of.

In its press release, Near*By
describes itself as“an untethered
curatorial collective that seeks to bypass the art institution, working as
liaison between artists and pluralistic audiences. We aim to create
ephemeral and interdisciplinary exhibitions that connect art with location and meld curatorial
and artist practices while blurring the boundaries between installation and
white cube.”

I’ve
missed some of the previous events, although I’ve heard that Andy Marko’s
attempt to launch his guerilla campaign to become Cincinnati’s Minister of
Performance Art (why not?) was amusing at Fountain Square last October. And High
Art, an event held atop the Carew Tower also in October, almost avoided a
rainfall. Near*By’s first event, last May’s Moon Show, proved very
sagacious — it was based on a premise the Apollo 11 moon landing was a staged event;
the movie Interstellar plays with (and upends) that premise, too.

But
I did make last week’s Lightgeist at Over-the-Rhine’s Rhinegeist brewpub and it
was great. Rhinegeist has the open space of an old-fashioned upper-floor school
gym (maybe a couple of them) and looks like one, too, although not too many school
gyms would have huge metal brewing tanks for beer.

Actually,
the space was part of the old Christian Moerlein brewery’s bottling plant,
which was in business from 1853 until Prohibition. The building’s rebirth as a
craft-beer business has been one of the Cincinnati revival’s bigger success
stories.

For
Lightgeist, Near*By invited 17 artists/artist groups to show work for
just one night throughout the space. There were familiar names and new ones,
many with connections to alternative galleries or the University of Cincinnati’s
College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. The theme was
“dematerializing” the image, which resulted in some fine video and sound work
especially.

Lightgeist started at 7 p.m.
and, according to Maria Seda-Reder (a Near*By member as well as a CityBeat
arts writer), some 300 people came to witness the work during the next three
hours. (Other Near*By members include Jon Auer, Chris Reeves, Loraine Wible,
Joe Hedges and Anastasiya Yatsuk.)

It
was a party atmosphere with plenty of beer, but the audience was there to see
the work. And there were people of all ages, revealing that there is growing
curiosity about local contemporary art — a necessity for any city trying to
have an urban renaissance.

I
didn’t take detailed notes on everything, but Charles Woodman’s debut of his “Wavelength-pure signal, no camera” screen image was involving,
and Alice Pixley Young’s
projection of bird-like moving images against and past an arrangement of physical
objects was deeply moving. Caroline Turner and Ian Anderson’s ghostly pinprick
of white light on an eerie background was a work deserving of more time.

Lightgeist was the latest
evidence that this has been a great year for presentations of video and film
art here — DAAP’s Electronic Art program and screenings at Weston Gallery,
Manifest, FotoFocus and Cincinnati Art Museum’s Eyes on the Street.

In
the last half-dozen years, we’ve had quite a few ambitious artist coops and
collectives start up bricks-and-mortar galleries/performance spaces but fail to
keep them going. (Semantics is the most notable exception.) So Near*By’s idea
is a good one — use the surplus of fascinating spaces around town for one-off
events. It’s not a substitute for having more permanent contemporary spaces, which
we need, but it’s an important part of any art scene.

Near*By
is planning 2015 events now — some of which may involve collaborations with
galleries. There will be more coverage
in CityBeat.

Cranley: City shouldn't subsidize county buses; new OTR incubator to open; the origins of that pull-up test you had to take in grade school

Hey y’all. Yesterday was a long one, but today’s my birthday and tomorrow is Thanksgiving. So yeah, that’s awesome.

The big news this morning is something you’ve probably already heard about, maybe from our coverage last night. Roughly 300 people yesterday gathered at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse on Fifth Street for a rally organized by the Cincinnati chapter of the National Action Network. City and state politicians, including State Rep. Alicia Reece and Mayor John Cranley spoke at the event. At some point, most of those gathered embarked on what would become a nearly three-hour march that shut down I-75 and led to 15 arrests. Organizers of the rally say the march wasn’t part of their plans, and not all those who marched went out onto the highway. Protesters started dispersing about 8:30 p.m. after the march ended at the Hamilton County Justice Center. Those arrested on the highway are being charged with violations like disorderly conduct and inducing panic, while those arrested elsewhere are charged with disobeying traffic signals, according to court records. UPDATE: at least some of those arrested have been bonded out.

• Tell us how you really feel. A speech by Mayor John Cranley given Nov. 20 at the Cincinnati Masonic Center had many moments of surprising candor, according to the Business Courier, even for a mayor known to be upfront with his thoughts. During the speech, which wasn’t announced to the press but was recorded by the group, Cranley compared the state of the region’s bus system to the Titanic, called on-street bike lanes “special treatment” and a “disruption,” and called rail projects like the streetcar “19th century technology.” While those comments are provocative, they align pretty well with past positions the mayor has taken. Cranley said the bus system’s finances are in bad shape and argued the city shouldn’t be subsidizing county bus riders. The fare for SORTA buses outside the city is higher, but that higher rate doesn’t pay for the extra cost of running the buses. Cranley also offered a fascinating idea at the meeting: that the Census’ estimate for the city’s population is too low. Cranley thinks the city may have 310,000 residents, more than the roughly 298,000 the Census estimates.

• A new Over-the-Rhine business incubator is opening up Friday for people with great ideas but fewer resources. Mortar, a so-called “urban idea laboratory” on Vine Street, will offer a 10-week business class and support for entrepreneurs, especially underprivileged potential business owners, looking to start a business in Cincinnati’s urban core.

• As we reported yesterday, Ricky Jackson came to Cincinnati yesterday to thank the Ohio Innocence Project. The University of Cincinnati program helped him prove his innocence after he was convicted of a murder he didn't commit in 1975, and, as he said during a triumphant event yesterday at UC, “saved my life.” Jackson, who was just released last Friday, spent 39 years in prison for the crime before being exonerated.

• A bill being considered in Ohio’s General Assembly would end the state’s 20-year statute of limitations on rape cases. But that bill is stalled due to controversy over potential far-reaching consequences. Some lawmakers are pushing for an amendment to the law that would only eliminate the expiration date for cases in which DNA evidence is present proving the identity of the offender. The state of Ohio currently has a backlog of rape kits, evidence collected from a victim after a sexual assault is reported. That’s made finding and prosecuting rapists in a timely manner difficult.

• Finally, this is interesting. Do you remember the Presidential Fitness Test? If you went to public school, you probably took the test, which measured your running ability and your capacity for push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises. When I had to take this test as a youngin, I always pictured a very angry Ronald Regan (I don’t know why I pictured him. Bill Clinton was president at the time) yelling at me to do more sit-ups so the communists wouldn’t win. Turns out, I wasn’t far off the mark, though I should have imagined an earlier president. President Kennedy pushed for youth fitness measures in 1960, decrying the nation’s “growing softness.” The actual test wasn’t instituted until 1966. It included a softball throw that was meant to simulate chucking grenades. Probably would have been more excited for the whole thing as a child if they’d kept that part in.

Three-hour march shut down I-75, passed through OTR and West End

A rally in remembrance of those who have died in recent police shootings of unarmed black men drew as many as 300 downtown Tuesday evening. The rally was followed by a nearly three-hour march that made its way through downtown, Over-the-Rhine and the
West End before briefly shutting down I-75 as protesters streamed onto
the highway.

The
rally and march were in solidarity with Ferguson, Mo., where black
18-year-old Michael Brown was shot Aug. 9 by white Ferguson Police
Officer Darren Wilson. Yesterday a grand jury in St. Louis County
declined to indict Wilson, spurring civil unrest in the area and
demonstrations in cities across the country. In Cincinnati, the march
through downtown neighborhoods had echoes of the city’s past
— civil unrest lasting days tore through the same communities in 2001
after unarmed black teenager Timothy Thomas was shot by white
Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach in OTR.

Protesters briefly shut down I-75 during a Nov. 25 rally remembering those killed in police shootings.

Nick Swartsell

“Honestly, after the decision yesterday I was a bit numb,” said Curtis Webb, as he marched through downtown. “I even questioned whether I would come out tonight. I’m tired of hearing the talk. I’m more interested in seeing the walk about these situations. As a black man, I’m… I don’t know. I’m scared to be black. I don’t know how to say it. I’m always questioning, 'Am I doing the right thing? Do I look too dangerous? Are the police going to pull me over?' ”

Protester at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse Nov. 25.

Jesse Fox

Protesters march through West End Nov. 25.

Nick Swartsell

Cincinnati’s demonstrations started with a rally at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse on Fifth Street attended by State Senator-elect Cecil Thomas, State Rep. Alicia Reece, community organizer Rev. Damon Lynch III and Mayor John Cranley, among others.

At the initial gathering on the steps of the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, Cranley highlighted the progress Cincinnati has made since 2001.

"Like all of you, I am deeply concerned about the loss of life and the events that are unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri," he said. "I can sympathize with all aspects of what the community is experiencing because Cincinnati has had similar tensions in the past. It wasn’t easy, and there were a lot of trial and errors, but we made progress."

Over shouts of “no justice, no peace,” and “hands up, don’t shoot,” the speakers there urged peace and calm, but some also expressed anger at the deaths of Brown and others killed in similar incidents closer to home. These include the Aug. 6 police shooting of John Crawford III in a Beavercreek Walmart and Tamir Rice, the Cleveland 12-year-old shot by police in a park in Cleveland last week. Both were carrying toy guns. Both were black.

Anger from some speakers focused on a failure by a grand jury to indict Crawford’s shooter, Beavercreek Police Officer Sean Williams.

“We are here today to say ‘No more business as usual,' ” Reece said, her voice rising to a shout. “We are here today to say ‘John Crawford, we will remember you. Mike Brown, we will remember you.’ ”

Reece said she’s pushing for a federal investigation of Crawford’s shooting and a state law named after him that will put new requirements on the appearance of toy guns to make them look less like real ones.

Protesters gather at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse Nov. 25

Jesse Fox

State Sen. Cecil Thomas speaks to the crowd gathered at the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse Nov. 25.

Nick Swartsell

“I spent 27 years in law enforcement, and not once did I fire my weapon to harm someone,” Cecil Thomas said. “And all of a sudden, we see so many officers so quick to pull their guns. How do you pull your gun on a 12-year-old when someone tells you it looks like he has a toy gun? We have to change the way we do our policing.”

Thomas was a peacemaker during the 2001 unrest, working with police, community groups and the city's Human Relations Commission to broker calm.

Many attendees at the initial rally joined in a meandering march that stopped traffic in many of the city’s major streets and passed just feet from the spot where Timothy Thomas was shot in 2001. However, the rally was much more peaceful than the days of unrest 13 years ago. About 20 police followed the march, blocking off streets and working to corral protesters. Organizers with the Cincinnati chapter of the National Action Network say the march was not part of their plans for the rally.

Police arrest a protester at a Nov. 25 march in memory of victims of police shootings

Nick Swartsell

Tensions rose when protesters, after making their way down Ezzard Charles Drive in the West End, split off onto a highway on ramp onto the north-bound lane of I-75. Police had initially blocked the on ramp, but moved to the highway to block off traffic temporarily. After roughly five minutes, officers drove protesters off the highway with the threat of arrest. Eight protesters were arrested when they didn’t leave quickly enough. They are being held without bond at the Hamilton County Justice Center.

After leaving the highway, the march continued through the city for another hour, eventually dissipating at the Justice Center on Court and Main streets.

Joshua Davis, who helped lead the march, said the problems go beyond any specific case.

“I’m out here because I have nieces who are four, five, six years old and I want them to come up in a world where they don’t have to be afraid of the cops," he said. "There are many things cops can carry that don’t kill people. I’m out here not because I agree Mike Brown was innocent or guilty, or because the cop was guilty or innocent, but because black men are being killed daily.”

The march ended at the
Hamilton County Justice Center at about 8:30 p.m. Fifteen were arrested during the march, according to police.

UPDATE: A hearing for those arrested was held Wednesday at 12:30, according to the county clerk. Court records show some of the protesters have posted bond.

Onlookers watch protesters march down Ezzard Charles Dr. Nov. 25

Nick Swartsell

A protester at a Nov. 25 rally remembering victims of police shootings

Ricky Jackson says the Ohio Innocence Project was "instrumental" in his exoneration

Ricky Jackson was just 20 and fresh out of the Marines when he went to jail for murder in 1975. Authorities pinned the killing of Harold Franks, a fifty nine-year-old money order clerk in Cleveland, on Jackson and two of his friends, brothers Wiley and Ronnie Bridgeman. The conviction came on the testimony of a single twelve-year-old boy with bad eyesight and a confused story.

He spent the next 39 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Jackson was released last Friday, the last of the trio to be freed after that witness, Eddie Vernon, admitted he made up his testimony under police pressure. Today, Jackson was in Cincinnati to thank those who worked tirelessly to help free him.

“I would have walked if it would have come to that,” Jackson said to a packed house on University of Cincinnati's campus. “I wanted to come meet the people instrumental in saving my life.”

The Ohio Innocence Project, which runs out of University of Cincinnati’s College of Law, has been working on Jackson's case since 2010, digging for years to get public records about the case. A Cleveland Scenearticle in 2011 focused more attention on the story as well. Since those beginnings, OIP has played a huge role in getting Jackson exonerated.

OIP was founded in 2003 to investigate and litigate cases where prisoners have been wrongly convicted and imprisoned. The group is made up of UC Law professors and students who use DNA evidence, new witnesses, evidence of police misconduct, and other information to exonerate wrongfully convicted inmates. In just over a decade, they’ve helped free 18 inmates who were wrongfully convicted of murder and other charges. Jackson is the longest-serving inmate in Ohio to be exonerated.

Jackson’s codefendant Ronnie Bridgeman was paroled in 2010, but Jackson’s parole board continued to keep him in prison. Jackson says parole boards wanted him to admit guilt and express regret for the crime before they released him. The only problem was, he was innocent.

“I was on the cusp a lot of times,” he said of confessing. “It seemed like, to me, the only way I was going to get out was to admit guilt. But there was a lot more at stake than just me saying I committed the crime when I know I didn’t. That man’s family gets no justice, I get no justice… at the end of the day I just couldn’t lay down with that in my heart.”

He passed the time by staying fit and helping run the prison’s horticultural project. He ran a greenhouse, something he enjoyed immensely. Still, the time was wearing on him.

“After my last parole board hearing, I was really at an all time low,” he said. “I’m running out of time. I’m 57. How much time to do I really have left? I hate to use this cliché, but they came through like a knight in shining armor. When I was at my eleventh hour, didn’t know what direction I was going to take… these guys came.”

Mark Godsey, director of the Ohio Innocence Project, says Jackson was steadfast in his innocence. He recalls first meeting Jackson at a recent hearing on his request for a new trial in light of witness Vernon recanting his testimony. Prosecutors were offering Jackson a deal — once again, if he would say he was guilty, he could walk free.

“He just looked at us and said, ‘I don’t need anymore time to think about it. I will not take that deal,' ” Godsey recalls. Prosecutors soon conceded that without their only witness, they had no case. Jackson was free.

There are challenges ahead, to be sure. He spent many of his formative years — when most people go to college, start careers, and build families — behind bars.

The OIP is stepping in again with assistance. The group has raised nearly $43,000 to help Jackson get a new start. They’re also fighting the state of Ohio to get a settlement for him based on his wrongful conviction. That could be huge — $40,000 for every year he was imprisoned, plus lost wages and other damages. But it’s not guaranteed. Sometimes, prosecutors fight against these settlements. So far, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office has not officially acknowledged that Jackson and the Bridgemans are innocent or that they were wrongly imprisoned.

In the meantime, Jackson says he’s not sure just yet what he’ll do. But he says he’s up for the challenge of building a life.

“It’s not difficult at all," he said. "Compared to what I just came from, this is beautiful.”

Jac's roundup of pop culture news and Internet findings

Everyone’s favorite naughty bedtime story, Go the Fuck to Sleep, is getting a
follow-up! You Have to Fucking Eat by
Adam Mansbach is available now. And, like Samuel L. Jackson did for Sleep, Bryan Cranston narrates this new
hilariously explicit offering.

Can’t you just hear Walter White reading this to baby Holly?

I’m a sucker for topical parodies of popular songs,
and Adrian Anchondo is behind a few of my favorites. He’s turned Bey's “Partition”
and “Drunk in Love” into fast food anthems and teamed up with Mean Girls’ Daniel Franzese for a twist
on Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me.” Now they’re back with a Thanksgiving remix of
T-Shfit’s “Shake It Off” — “Shake and Bake”!

This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful Damien is still in
the game and still too gay to function.
And speaking of the boys of Mean Girls…

A film adaptation of creepy childhood favorite Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has
been in the works for a while. Patrick
Melton and Marcus Dunstan from the Saw
franchise were once attached to the project, but now they’re out and John
August is taking over the screenplay, keeping the source material so many
people love/fear very close. August has written several Tim Burton movies,
including Big Fish, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Frankenweenie,
so he may just be perfectly suited to take on Scary
Stories.

Beyoncé released a DIY video for “7/11” — one of
the new tracks on her Beyoncé platinum
edition release (listen to the entire album on Spotify)
— and, obviously, it excites me. This will definitely be source material for
countless upcoming holiday cards.

HBO announced some more casting info for True Detective Season Two. Rachel
McAdams, Taylor Kitsch and Kelly Reilly will officially join previously
announced actors Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn in the highly anticipated drama.

Rachel McAdams as Ani Bezzerides, a Ventura County Sheriff’s detective
whose uncompromising ethics put her at odds with others and the system she
serves.

Taylor Kitsch as Paul Woodrugh, a war veteran and motorcycle officer for
the California Highway Patrol, running from a difficult past and the sudden
glare of a scandal that never happened.

Kelly Reilly as Jordan, Frank Semyon’s wife, a former D-list actress who
is a full partner in his enterprises and ambitions.

Thanksgiving is just days away, and if you’re
traveling back home to crash at your folks’ for the weekend, congratulations:
You’re a Back Home Baller.

New movie trailers to hit the Interwebz: Richard "forever Robb Stark" Madden is Prince Charming, Helena Bonham Carter is the Fairy Godmother and Cate Blanchett is the wicked stepmother in Cinderella; Jurassic World looks as grand as it's been hyped up to be; the Bellas return for Pitch Perfect 2; and Paul Feig's Peanuts movie is coming in 2015.

For the 2015 edition of CityBeat's Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (to be held in late January), the public now has a chance to be involved in the process of choosing the nominations from Greater Cincinnati’s amazing music scene. Previously, nominations came directly from the nominating committee, which consists of a variety of local music aficionados (writers, bloggers, club owners, etc.). The nominating committee members still have final say in who gets nominated, but for the first time ever they will be presented with your feedback before making their final decisions.

The ballot will close on Dec. 5. Here are some basic guidelines from the nominations ballot:

For the first time ever, fans will have input into the nomination process for the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. For each genre category, please enter the name of the performer you feel is deserved of a CEA for their work in 2014. Recordings released publicly between November 2013 and November 2014 are eligible for Album of the Year nominations. The New Artist of the Year category is for artists who have emerged in that same time span (they don’t have to have formed in that date range, just broken through for the first time).

Nominations are reserved for artists from Greater Cincinnati making original music. Please, no straight-up cover bands. You may only fill out one ballot per email address; additional ballots will be discarded.

A list of the top vote getters in each category will be presented to the nominating committee members. The members will not be restricted to voting only for artists nominated by the public, because some deserved acts may not actively campaign for nominations and the CEAs honor output and accomplishments and not just who has the biggest Facebook friends list or the most followers on Twitter. But the “long list” compiled from public votes will get more artists’ names in front of the nominating committee and help their chances for making the final “short list” of nominees.

Once the nominations are compiled, the final ballot will be placed online for public voting.